David Glynn

As an ex professional ski patrol I must say that I enjoy watching people go fast even straightliners, I enjoy watching people having fun whether it is pushing their limits in the park or going out the gate. Life is dangerous and none of us gets out alive. However there is a time and place for being rowdy. A straight liner on a crowded slope; well he is warned once. Second time he is gone! Someone jumping blind well he might be gone without a warning, he certainly won't get a second warning. There is simply no excuse for jumping blind without a spotter. When you do that you are not just gambling with your life your gambling with someone else's. Please get a clue.

Bryanz, You are depending on luck if you are jumping blind. Ever since I started skiing and then snowboarding I have loved going fast and getting air. When going off blind rollers I always have spotters period!! When the slopes get crowded I slow down. If you hit someone below you it is your fault. Here in Telluride we have our share of blind rollers like everywhere else. I see people launch these too often with no spotter. I also see people stopped below them too often and sometimes they have fallen in these blind spots. And believe me,Telluride is deserted most of the time. Just yesterday I was on a steeper deserted slope that has a catwalk right on the break over, and no spotter. Tempted to play with it; but kept things on the ground as I always will in that situation. Guess what? Right under the roll where I could have been air born were two people getting up from a fall. I don't know anyone who can change their direction in the air. I would have gotten them both. I hope you have an epiphany on this subject before one is forced upon you by bad luck on an "empty" slope. Come to Tride some day, preferably after your epiphany, but either way I'll spot for you.

Just wanted to let you all know that the carving here is awesome at the moment. As good a sit gets. All the groomed off of chair 9 is primed and ready, not to mention Milk Run and the rest of the mountain. Bushwhacker, Plunge, Lookout, See Forever are all incredible. Winter time snow, sunny days, long runs, good friends carving deep trenches, steep pitches; now there's a recipe that will put a smile on my face. Hope you all are having a great winter! Hook up if you are down this way.http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/images/icons/icon7.gif

New Carver, I'm assuming that you are talking about T-ride. It is frustrating to see the terrain park on lower misty and the top of 5. But the really good carving is up off of 9 and on Milk run. Milk run is not open yet but Look Out has been good but the Plunge and Bushwacker are too soft yet. With all the snow we have been having the carving has been on hold for me to enjoy the powder. But I feel the frustration as well. The powers that be don't seem to want to listen to us; at least that is my experience. Maybe they will get the real park up and running on See Forever and give us back Misty. Lets try to hook up this winter.

Dive Bomber, I ride in the Krypton Pro and love them; been in them for three years or so. They are super responsive and do not fold. But if you are coming from the softer SB hardboots it will take some getting used to. My first feeling was one of being blocked on my back leg. I went to the softer tongue and after a day of riding got into the feel. Other than custom footbeds I have not modified them. Like Neal said they are very responsive at 100% but I also find them to be great for free carving. And of course you can soften the ride with buckle adjustments and or the power strap tightness. I think if you went to too soft of a board it would be overpowered by these boots or you would at least be defeating the purpose of the boot. Hope you can find some to demo and can give them time. Neal, how is Terra doing this year?

Redriver, you ARE onto something. The design of the asym put you on the center( or same point) of the board equally on either side. (Stocking did have a big impact on the demise of the asym.) Depending on the bindings you use the off centering on a symmetrical board, from heelside to toeside, will be more, or less, pronounced but it will still be there by a noticeable degree. On my TD1's there is about 6 inches of difference from my toeside to heelside edge pressure points. To make up for it the rider has to initiate heelsides more on the front foot. William Blake had many posts last winter on feeding the board through the turn front to back. He would do this with foot movement, not by moving the upper body over the feet, but pulling the feet back and then feeding the board through the turn by pushing (feeding) the feet(the board) forward. His posts were excellent and his descriptions where better than mine. But this feeding the board through the turn is crucial on symmetrical boards on a heelside turn because of the design elements that you are talking about. Good observation! Please don't forget that it( feeding) should be done both heelside and toeside but there is a difference in application. (Watch your toeside and don't load the nose!!) The more aggressive you ride the more important this technique becomes. Heelside chatter will become a thing of the past. Because good technique can easily overcome the design issues of the symmetrical board I doubt that the asym will ever make a comeback outside of the custom board market. I did like them though. Indian

My kids skied in the womb. We skied them in back packs. And they started skiing as soon as they could walk. They of course can't remember learning to ski. If you can ski as well as you can walk I don't see an issue. If you are a little shaky then..................?????? I know that my kids loved it. I would do it again in a heart beat. Our ski area does not allow it anymore and I think it is a shame

Most of the time heelside wash out happens for one or two reasons or both. Not enough weight on the front foot at the beginning of the turn or the riders hips are into the hill and not stacked over the board. On the first issue try to pull the board back and under you during the transition from toeside or bring your body over the front foot, either way amounts to the same thing. Then work the board front foot, both feet, back foot through the turn or feed the board through the turn as many people i.e. William Blake like to describe it. On the second issue it is frequently caused by your back hand trailing.It pulls the shoulder which pulls the hips then your toast. Bring that back hand up front and square up to your turn and that will pull your hips over the board. You should then start sticking your heelsides at least as well as your toesides if not better.

I started in ski boots went to snowboard hardboots and then right back to ski boots. I like them better, however thats just my experience. I have also taught several people to carve in ski boots and most of them went to snowboard hardboots but some stayed with ski boots. Not a one of them gave up the sport though. I won't advise you to go one way or the other but I will say this; If you have trouble finding snowboard hardboots or you can't afford them try the ski boots. A used pair of ski boots are easy to come by and usually cheap also. As far as a board goes a slalom board in the 160 to 165 range will be a good place to start. A slalom board needs less real estate to turn so you will spend less time in the fall line and that will be a good thing for a while. And a flexier set of bindings, like Burton race plates or f2s, will be helpful in the beginning if you start in ski boots. Good luck and welcome to the world of carving.

I have a 197 burner and I ride it back, showing the first two rows of inserts in front of the bomber disc on my front foot. I weigh 165. The scr is 19m on the 197 but you can really tighten it up!! My guess is that you will love that board, and that you will like it however you set it up and of course then you'll find what works the best for you with a little experimentation. Rock On.

New carver, I have a pro tec full face but I don't know the model name. I find the visibility to be good and the face protection piece to be solid. It has no visor. I have taken skier gates in the face with it and have been pleased with the protection so far( no broken goggles). I remember it being about $100. I usually only wear it when running gates and wear my other helmet when free carving. I was once knocked cold for 5 minutes plus, by a straight lining snowboarder. I was wearing a Bell helmet at the time. He broke his brand new Palmer in half from the impact of his board to my back foot. So when are you coming to T-Ride? Sounds like you have your boot problem fixed. The snow for carving has been fantastic and the year is slipping away. Lets get together soon!!

No, but that made me laugh!:lol: My first private lesson makes me think of that movie. Actually I can relate more to the movie "Hot Dog". I swear everything that happened in that movie was not far from the mark of our experiences on the pro mogul tour years ago. Chubz it sounds like you have a great life with your family. You may have missed one boat but you have caught a much better one. I was there for almost all the firsts of my kids also and wouldn't change it for anything. What a great ride life with family is! I can still remember the day my son started walking!! You rule!

Chubz, You may have missed a boat but not THE boat. Get your ass on the next one. Make a plan ,set a goal, do it on the spur of the moment but do it. The first time I came to T-ride I hitched here from Iowa with my brother for a week of skiing. We came into town in a 50's Austin-Healy with the top down skies poles and packs bristling above the windshield, within 2 seconds I knew I was moving here. The next fall I was back for good. I had enough money saved for a down payment on a corner lot with an old house on it or a winter of total ski bumming. I went for the ski bumming. The house would be worth about 3 mill now if I left it untouched. Did I miss the boat? Not in my view. In Greg Stumps Blizzard of Ahhhs after we did a shot of jumping the cornice into Mammoth Greg need a sherpa so I volunteered for the first session. When my time to ski came his batteries were dead. The next day my friend Scottie Kennett became famous ;I had to work............ Oh well. Maybe I missed that one but so what? Scottie is two lockers down from me in ski school and we are still skiing T-Ride. One time at the Bird a friend and I were skiing the gad 2 chair and Glen Plake was setting up with Warren Milller to do a shot. Well it was blue bird and the snow was epic and they took so much time setting up their shot that 5 runs later we had skied every line that they were hoping to film. Glen missed the boat that day. Being famous requiers too much standing around don't you think? Dude you are only 38 that is still so young! Get out here and start living the dream. It's not the fame it's the motion. You don't need to be a rock star to validate your abilities and love for snowboarding. Don't worry whether you should have turned left when you turned right. Just make sure you are turning. Remember it's the joy of the movement.

Good tips so far. Nate's last sentence nails it. What is happening here is that the body squares up to the boards direction of travel. The hand pulls the shoulders and hips over the board. But the hips are the key.The biggest thing is that you will then be stacked over your edge instead of having your hips and center of mass angled into the hill beyond your edge angle. Another thing may be that your board is out in front of you as you initiate your heelside turn. The center of your stance heelside is about 4 to 5 inches back on the board compared to toeside. You need to be more up front on heelside initiation to compensate for this difference. Weight the board: front, then center, then back. You can think of getting your mass over your front foot ( but don't break at the hip ) OR bringing your feet ( board) under you as you initiate the heelside turn. It is easier to pull your feet under than moving your mass over the board, but either way it will accomplish the same thing. One last note: try to really lock your edge angle in with strong ankles and feet while staying soft enough in the knees and hips to still be able to absorb terrain issues.

Oldkey, I was there and here is my take on it. The weather forecast was the deciding factor on limiting the second run numbers.. Windy, cold, and snow up to 12'' We got less snow but more wind. The light was flat. The wind was extreme at times and the course got rutty . The biggest problem was visibility. The course was awesome something like 42 or 44 gates. The set was very interesting and used the terrain well. The hill itself offered many different looks. In short the GS was a real GS. Phil and crew did a great job. Like I said visibility was "The Problem". There was one stretch when 5 men in a row blew out of the course. The toughest part of the course was the first steep pitch which started right at the third gate. All riders except one did a fair amount of skidding through this section. The one exception was Musaki Sheba. He railed the whole section only to falter at the pitch change. He got it back together and rode well out of sight only to blow out latter down the course. If you ever wanted a lesson on how to race on the steeps that would be it ,I wish someone had video. I bet he was over a second faster through that section. He is my favorite racer to watch. He projected his mass down the course like no other racer there. As tough as the top was it was other places that did in many of the field. Many blew out in places that seemed easier. "Visibility!! was the issue" The wind was extreme at times blowing down the upper part of the course. The blowing snow made it even harder to see. Course awesome, weather horrendous.

Personally I think the Dalbello is a better boot than the flexon(which I love). I have the Krypton Pro model and it is awesome! There are a lot of different models so you want to choose carefully. I'm not familiar with the IL Moro model. It looks like a two buckle with a ratcheting power strap. The Krypton has three Buckles with a wide velcro power strap. Rides and skis great!Just got back from Park City's "race to the cup" GS and PS. Noticed a few of the competitors in Dalbellos.

Sounds like a real bummer.I'm from the midwest originally so I know what you are talking about. Here in the west we know better than to complain about the snow. We are having an epic winter. I was riding the gondola today with friends and we agreed that every day was the new best day of the winter.We've been blessed. So to soften the blow you must be feeling if you can make it out this way we have an extra room.

Just a note to all the milk run fans out there. It is open and ready for buisness. It was a real hoot today. Have your mail forwarded to: You Milk Run Telluride Co. 81435 There is no substitute for pitch.

My roof is about 23 degrees. The pictures of the run clearly show in my mind that the run is steep but not even close to extreme. If you notice it is groomed( probably winch catted) with bumps along side so it gets a lot of traffic. Even the small pic of someone edged into the hill on skies shows that it is not extreme, steep yes. It wouldn't be the first time that we the public were assaulted with false or misleading promo. P.S. It is snowing so hard right now................. YEHAW! THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PITCH. MILK RUN IS OPEN!

Used to be sponsored through a local shop to ride volant skies. I loved them they were so damp and smooth. Well the problem was that they only lasted a week or so before I would brake them. It was behind the rear binding and it usually seemed like an extreme cambering( not decambering) situation was to blame. I think metal on the inside of the board or ski is the way to go.

Looking at the picture of the slope I would say that it is indeed 38 degrees not 76. 76 degrees would not even hold snow in most cases. The piste in the pic looks carvable in a flowing but very demanding way. Shorter boards with an 11 meter or shorter radius are easier on steeper terrain.

I agree with the other advice you've been given, leave your stance alone for now and work on technique. My technical advice on initiating up front and then going to the center of the board was my simplistic attempt at getting you started at driving the board. Good luck!

Bill The Dalbello Krypton comes with two different tounges. Black- stiff grey- softer. I liked the black tounge best for skiing but for carving it seemed to block my back leg and knee from driving forward( with my stance). So I switched to the softer tounge for carving and it made all the difference and I like it well enough for skiing that I keep it in at all times. I personally do not like a boot that is too soft because I tend to ride stiffer boards. I like the energy that they give me back, so i like a boot that won't be over powered by my boards. For me the Dalbello is a terrific boot. But if a boot doesn't fit YOU it doesn't matter what others think. If the Dalbello FITS, give it a good try for carving. I'm sure you would like it for skiing. Orthotics are a must. I was out carving last Sat. and met and rode with three rippen skiers. We were all trying to out carve each other; turns out they were all on Dalbellos. P.s. I almost always carve and ski on the same day.